The former head of the Hamilton County Justice Center who lost her job over allegations she created a hostile work environment says she was targeted because she is a lesbian.

In a complaint filed this week with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charmaine McGuffey said a superior officer, Hamilton County sheriff's Chief Deputy Mark Schoonover, consistently treated her differently than her male peers.

"I was always under scrutiny from (Schoonover)," McGuffey said, "because I was a female and because of my sexual orientation."

A spokesman for the sheriff's office, Jim Knapp, said the agency’s policy is to not comment on pending litigation.

McGuffey, a former major who was in charge of the jail for four years, was told she would be moved to a lower-paying civilian job on May 5. She ultimately left the agency.

The demotion was based on an internal affairs report that found McGuffey favored some employees over others, demeaned and yelled at subordinates, misled investigators and bullied her personal assistant. The report also described a sheriff's office rife with back-stabbing, one in which some employees secretly recorded conversations to protect their interests.

Major Charmaine McGuffey(Photo: Liz Dufour)

McGuffey was the first woman in a command position at the agency. Sheriff Jim Neil promoted her to head the jail after he took office in 2013. Complaints about her began soon after, she said.

McGuffey has previously said she met resistance from holdovers from the previous administration of former Sheriff Simon Leis, especially when she sought to improve conditions at the jail and reduce violent encounters between inmates and corrections officers.

In the EEOC complaint, McGuffey said she frequently brought up issues to both Schoonover and Neil regarding male subordinates' disrespect towards her.

She said Neil told her "that some men in the department just don't like working for a woman."

The internal affairs report, she said, was biased. It contained comments from male colleagues "identifying me as very 'pro-lesbian.'" Many of the women interviewed, she said, were asked about "how intimate of a relationship we had."